Industry News

YMCA of Greater Kansas City was recently awarded a $100,000 grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to support the Y’s Summer Learning Loss Prevention program. The primary goal of the SLLP program is to prevent summer learning loss through a combination of literacy instruction, quality enrichment activities aligned to literacy classroom instruction, and positive youth development opportunities for struggling readers and their families at a site within their local community. The program targets incoming first-fifth graders identified by the schools as “strategic readers” (reading just below grade level). The Y is working to fully embed this summer intervention at all of our 21st CCLC afterschool program sites.

KidsTLC, Inc. recently received a grant for $75,000 from the Sarli Family Foundation to provide general operating support for Outpatient Behavioral Health services. KidsTLC’s Outpatient Behavioral Health clinic (OBH) serves children, adolescents, young adults, and families from various racial, ethnic, religious, economic, and geographic backgrounds, with a wide range of behavioral health issues ranging from mild to severe, including victims of traumatic abuse, neglect, or other difficult family disruptions. Services include assessment evaluations; individual, group, and family therapy; medication management; parental education; psychological assessments; substance abuse treatment; and telemedicine. Support for this program will allow services to be maintained for all in the face of low reimbursement rates, decreased government funding, and increased private funding competition.

Comprehensive Mental Health Services, Inc. was recently awarded a $70,000 grant from the Missouri Department of TransportationMissouri Elderly and Handicapped Transportation Assistance Program (MODOT MEHTAP) to support the driver salaries, benefits, mileage, vehicle maintenance, fuel, and insurance to support transportation operating expenses.

YMCA of Greater Kansas City recently received a grant for $69,465 from the Greater Kansas City Community FoundationJackson County Community Children’s Services Fund to add a critical staff position to directly support the children and families enrolled in Y Club with mental health services during the afterschool program, and equip Y Club staff with critical knowledge and skills for managing behaviors to improve overall program impact.

Blue Springs School District (BSSD) was recently awarded a $64,960 grant from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City (now the Health Forward Foundation) to support one full-time therapist and one half-time therapist for Valley View’s Hall McCarter Education Center (HMEC) and the Freshman Center to provide school-based mental health services. This funding increases the amount of time a therapist is available to students.  This gives the school a chance to work together to create a more consistent and efficient referral and reentry process for the students. It also provides the counselor with more time to provide services to students.

Comprehensive Mental Health Services, Inc. was recently awarded a $61,600 grant from the Greater Kansas City Community FoundationJackson County Community Children’s Service Fund to provide school-based intervention services. CMHS Prevention Specialists bring psychosocial groups into the school setting covering various topics: anger management, coping with anger/anxiety, drug prevention, risk taking, decision making, dealing with grief caused by death/divorce, social skills, and communication.

Comprehensive Mental Health Services, Inc. (CMHS) recently received a grant for $166,751 from the Jackson County Community Children’s Services Fund to place prevention specialists and therapists in numerous Jackson County schools, which significantly decreases risk factors and gives CMHS direct access to youth in crisis.

YMCA of Greater Kansas City was recently awarded a $15,000 grant from the USA Swimming Foundation – Make a Splash to help provide scholarships for children to receive full session of swim lessons and for the Safety Around Water Drowning Prevention curriculum. This program will provide potentially life-saving swimming lessons and drowning prevention education to school-age children most at risk for accidental drowning.